This invention relates to methods for repairing cracks in recreational surfaces, and in particular to a method for repairing cracks in asphalt surfaced tennis courts.
Crack repair in paving materials used for roadways, and other concrete or asphalt covered surfaces usually present a continuous maintenance problem. And, of course, in the case of recreational surfaces such as tennis courts and the like, a cracked playing surface often renders the court unplayable. A repair can be effected by resurfacing the entire area, but this is an obviously costly solution. Repairing just the area containing the crack or cracks would be the most economical approach to these problems if the repair lasted for a practically long period of time, and could be accomplished without altering the playing characteristics of the tennis court.
The traditional method for repairing cracks in a tennis court has been to cover the crack with FIBERGLAS (a registered trademark of Owens Corning Fiberglas), and then to bond the fabric to the asphalt surface with an adhesive. However, pressures created principally due to weather conditions of freezing and thawing will often cause the fabric to tear, necessitating frequent repairs to the same cracked area.
In order to overcome these powerful forces of nature which tend to re-create a crack over and over again in the same area a number of paving and paving repair methods have been proposed utilizing the principle of a slip-sheet to deal more effectively with these forces. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,663,350 teaches utilizing an elastomeric layer 14 (FIG. 2) between a surface layer 11 and a concrete layer 20 (FIG. 2) for roofing, garage decks, and so on. The elastomeric layer permits toleration of considerable expansion, contraction, and/or cracking of the concrete without affecting the surface layer. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,932,051 a method is described for strengthening highway pavements and other load bearing pavements. This patent teaches, col. 2, lines 47-52, "first imposing a non-adhesive mastic-backed sheets 16 of 400 mm. wide aluminum foil or similar slip surface material to allow a spread of strain in the layer and reduce the chance of reflective cracking in the wearing course occurring during thermal movement of the concrete." In U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,412 a method for resurfacing tennis courts and the like to prevent reflective cracking (i.e. cracks that re-appear in the same area after a repair) is described. The method makes use of multiple layers of a free floating flexible material on the top of an existing surface, which is then coated with a new asphalt surface. Another method for dealing with cracks in a paving material for tennis courts and the like is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,013. This method is commercially marketed by Robert A. Martin, Inc. as the "OMEGA SYSTEM". In this method a crack in the paving material is repaired by first lowering the surface area surrounding the crack, cleaning and filling the crack, covering the crack with a fabric having an adhesive front and a non-adhesive back (e.g. 2" wide duct tape), covering the fabric with a reinforcing material, and then building up an overlay material to a depth to match the original level of the paving surface under repair.
While the above cited patents disclose useful approaches to repairs in paving materials, the present invention describes a simple and economical method for long term repair of paving materials, and in particular structural cracks in asphalt surfaced tennis courts.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the invention to provide for long term repair of cracks in a recreational surface.
A further object is to effect an economical repair of cracks in a recreational surface.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a crack repair method that is easy to install on a recreational surface.
An additional object of the invention is to provide long term repair of structural cracks in a recreational surface.